I bought a metal cover for my humbucking pickup and find it hard to solder it to the bottom of the pickup. What can I do?
You will need to remove some of the plating off the inside of the pickup cover by using an abrasive stone with a Dremel tool. Use a tip made of Green Silicon Carbide because it is good for metal, aluminum, brass and silver. You need to use a soldering iron with enough temperature to allow the solder to flow. The cover and bottom plate act as a heat sink and you may find it hard to solder. Use a soldering iron and not a soldering gun that has a coil inside because it can demagnetize the magnet in the pickup. Use a rosin core solder and not acid core. I use Kester “44” Resin core solder with Sn60 alloy .062″ diameter. The soldering iron should be about 7-800 degrees and a good size tip. I remember using a 120-Watt heavy duty soldering iron when doing seminars at Gibson. They work great for putting humbucking covers on and you don’t have to apply the heat to long. Also try using a solid core solder. It will not leave excess resin on the plate. Facts on soldering: Solders are tin-lead allo
